Laz language

The Laz language or Lazuri (Laz: ლაზური ნენა, romanized: lazuri nena; Mingrelian: ლაზური ნინა, romanized: lazuri nina; Georgian: ლაზური ენა/ჭანური ენა, romanized: lazuri ena/ch'anuri ena; Turkish: Lazca) is a Kartvelian language spoken by the Laz people on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea. In 2007, it was estimated that there were around 20,000 native speakers in Turkey, in a strip of land extending from Melyat to the Georgian border (officially called Lazistan until 1925), and around 1,000 native speakers around Adjara in Georgia. There are also around 1,000 native speakers of Laz in Germany.

Laz is not historically a written language or literary language. As of 1989, Benninghaus could write that the Laz themselves had no interest in writing in Laz.